On Thursday evening (29 November) The Man and I put on our glad rags for a visit to the Salle Garnier, not for the opera, but for the jazz.
It was a concert of two halves. First up, Electro Deluxe. Under the gaze of gilded cherubs, white spotlights swept the stage and a voice crackled in the darkness, "Down goes Frazier!" The French band entered the ring with a track from their latest album, Circle. K.O. is a funky, upbeat tune, and was performed with full-on energy by drummer, three-man brass section, keyboard player, bassist, and Three of Hearts backing singers. Up front, singer James Copley was slick, suave and professional, like a bearded, musical George Clooney. They entertained us for about an hour, unfazed by what appeared to be some dodgy in-ear monitors. Infectious enthusiasm encouraged our reticent Monaco audience to their feet, and we danced, sang and clapped along to the music.
The second half of the evening featured French drummer Manu Katché, who has played with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Dire Straits and many more. Over the past decade or so, the 60 year-old musician has also released a number of solo albums, which I had imagined contained hard-core free-form jazz improvisation interspersed with "boring" (in the words of ex-drummer of The Who, Keith Moon "The Loon") drum solos. I couldn't have been more wrong. His last album, 2016's Unstatic, is great.
Much of the recent hoo-ha tho' has been about the forthcoming album, The Scope, due to be released on 1 February 2019 in Paris. The online teaser suggests he's been influenced by reggae, and shortly after 10pm, when the virtuoso took up his seat, his leather rasta cap seemed to confirm it.
Katché remained hidden behind his kit for most of the set. We got a plug for the new album and an introduction to the band: Jim Henderson on keyboards, Jerome Regard on bass, Patrick Manouguian on guitar. But what were the names of the tracks we were listening to? One was indeed too free-form for my taste, but some had a laid back, prog-rock feel to them, and a couple of tuneful melodies included pleasing vocals by Jim Henderson. The bassist produced weird sci-fi sounds in one track by stroking his fret board with his palm, another tune took me back to Sunday evening soul on the radio. No reggae tho'.
All four of the band are accomplished musicians, but half way through the set we were ready leave. The Man whispered, "I may not be able to take much more - that f*cking snare is driving me nuts." It was also driving Katché nuts, because during a bass guitar solo, he unscrewed the offending drum from its stand and carried it off stage. From the wings there was the muffled sound of breaking crockery, and then he reappeared with a different one.
After this there was a huge improvement, but too many times a technician would run onto the stage and fiddle about with the amps. At one point a cymbal flopped loose from its bracket, surely unforgivable for a drummer-led band. It was like sitting in on a rehearsal rather than a professional gig. Still, with two months before The Scope is released, there should be plenty of scope for improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment